Adobe Illustrator CS5 One-on-One

Rectangle, Objects, Blend, and the others. Note that the thumb-

nail for Rectangle has changed, with a white rectangle against a

gray background, as in Figure 7-16. This is Illustrator’s code for a

clipping mask. White represents the interior of the mask, the por-

tions of the clipped objects you can see. Gray represents the area

outside the mask, the portions that are hidden (or clipped). Click

the

icon for Rectangle to turn off the mask and you’ll see that

the blend remains entirely intact and editable. Turn the Rectangle

back on, and the blend appears cropped. Now that Rectangle is

identifi ed as the mask, you can even change its stacking order. Just

so long as it remains inside the item called <Group>, all is well.

11. Rename the group. One last bit of housekeeping: Double-click

the <Group> item in the Layers panel. Then change the Name

option to “Mask,” and click OK.

12. Save your changes. Choose File→Save As or press Ctrl+Shift+S

(-Shift-S on the Mac). Name your revised fi le “Blend inside clip-

ping mask.ai,” and click the Save button. You’ll use this fi le as the

starting point for the next exercise.

The primary advantage of blends and masks are the same: They af-

ford a high degree of fl exibility, editability, and automation in return

for a modest amount of work. And once you come to terms with their

underlying mechanics and admittedly odd (at times) behavior, they

become effi cient tools as well.

Creating Specialty Blends

Blends don’t have to be gradients. They can represent shading, glows,

directional fades, and all varieties of incremental effects. In this exer-

cise, you’ll blend between shapes with differing levels of opacity. You’ll

blend distant shapes to create a trail. And you’ll adjust the speed, cur-

vature, and direction of a blend.

1.

Open a fi le that includes translucent paths. If you’ve

managed to get through the previous exercises success-

fully, open the Blend inside clipping mask.ai fi le that you

saved in Step 12 above. Or if you prefer, open the fi le that I’ve pro-

vided for you, Cropped universe.ai, found in the Lesson 07 folder.

In addition to the blended background, this fi le contains a hand-

ful of opaque and translucent circles that you’ll blend together.

2.

Lock and unlock layers. In the Layers panel, click the second

column to the left of the Backdrop layer to lock it. (If necessary,

twirl it closed as well.) Click the

icon to the left of the Shoot

Star layer to unlock it. This is the layer we’ll use for this exercise.

Figure 7-16 .

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Creating Specialty Blends